Bumper



March 12, 1940. v, M, EXNER 2,193,229

BUMPER Filed Feb. l2, 1938 Snventor Bg v l K4 /ff l f l Y" Gttornegs Patented Mar. 12, 1940 NPATENT OFFICE y BUMPER Virgil M. Exner, Detroit, Mich., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application February 2, 1938, Serial No. 188,250

3 Claims.

This invention relates to motor vehicles and more particularly to an improved end construction. As applied to the conventional automobile having a forwardly mounted power plant, the invention involves the intake of engine cooling'air through the iront bumper with the engine and its appurtenances completelycovered and hidden from observation.

An object of. the invention is to enhance the ,n general appearance of the vehicle, especially as viewed from the front end and to enlarge the scope of design and contour treatment by the introduction of the cooling air supply at an inconspicuous inlet and otherwise housing the en- 5 gine compartment, thereby eliminating the customary ornamental and costly radiator grille.

A furtherobiect is to provide an improved bumper construction which gives a wide range of protection in the event of collision and which go incorporates as a structural part thereof a hollow rearwardly extending portion affording an air duct and merging into the surface contour of the vehicle in telescopic relation to the engine hood for movement under impact.

For a detailed explanation of the invention reference will be made to the accompanying drawing wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of the front portion of an automobile embodying the invention; Figure `2 is a iront elevation of the 3o vehicle and Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

The sheet metal at the front of the vehicle may linclude a hood or bonnet I oi.' pleasing contour which houses the engine or power plant 2 and a 35 pair of fenders 3-3 on opposite sidesof the hood for the front wheels I4. 'Ihe sheet metal may be assembled in any suitable cooperative relation but in any event it is provided in the forward bottom portion with a transversely elongated o opening dened by a rearwardly extending iiange l. Forwardly of such opening and in concealing relation thereto is the bumper assembly 6 supported from the vehicle in the usual fashion as by thelarms 1-1-as seen in Figure 1. 'Ihe bumper assembly may be rigid in relation tothe vehicle but preferably it incorporates some iiexi bility or resiliency so that it can yield or move imder impact to cushion shock.

The opposte end portions of the bumper exn tend forwardly of the fenders 3-3 in protective relation thereto while the central portion of the bumper in line with the opening deilned by the auge l is enlarged somewhat and the central portion is open for the intake of air. This openu ingmay ,itdesired,incorporate asapartoithe bumper assembly, suitable grille work (not shown) for appearance purposes, and it is located within limits defined by the spaced upper l and lower rails 8 and 9, which rails preferably include rearward extensions cooperating to form a sleeve or passageway IIJ telescopically iitted to, the iiangev for conveying air under the hood. For some installations, the telescopic sleeve can be omitted, but preferably the spaced apart openings in the bumper and hood should be aligned m with each other in the direction of air iiow. For mutual reinforcement of the rails 8 and 9, one or more vertically disposed tie bars II extend be-v tween and connect the rails. This tie bar or clamp plate may comprise a sheet metal pressing or the like having slots entering from its rearward edge which receive the forward portions of the rails 8 and 9. In addition, an ornamental rail I2 is shown bisecting the bumper opening and extending in parallelism to the bars 8 and 9 so as to avoid the possible unsightliness of a large opening and remove any semblance of a wide gap.

To convey the air taken in at the bumper to its point of use a duct or tunnel may be mounted under the hood as shown at I3. In the illustrated embodiment this tunnel I3 leads air to the radiator I4 which forms a part of the conventional liquid circulating system for cooling the engine. 4 The proportion of parts is such that the area of the intake opening substantially corresponds with the cross sectional dimension of the tunnel from front to rear and with the area of the air spaces through the radiator core I4. Accordingly the side walls of the tunnel I3, as shown in Figure 1, are forwardly flared or outwardly divergent while the top and bottom walls converge forwardly, as shown in Figure 3, with the top Wall extending at an inclined angle between the top or the core and the top of the inlet'opening which is in a plane considerably below the top of the radiator core. It may be here pointed out that the air intake through the bumper places it in a most eicient location and at the highest pressure area of the front end of a motor car. To enable the escape of any water that may be splashed and carried through the inlet opening in the bumper the lower wall of the tunnel I3 may be provided with a drain opening as shown at I5.

While the preferred embodiment has been described as to its specic construction it will be understood that various modiiications may be made within the scope of the invention as deilned by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A motor vehicle having a transversely elongated air entrance opening in the front wall of the engine hood in forwardly spaced relation to a radiator and being characterized by a conduit member leading from the opening to the fro-nt face of the radiator and having top and bottom walls and a pair of side walls, said side walls extending rearwardly in convergent relation and said top and bottom walls-extending rearwardly suspended in the space between the radiator and i'ront wall portion in alignment with the intake opening for delivering air rearwardly to the front face oi' the radiator, and a splash drain in the bottomvwall of said conduit member for the escape of water entering the conduit member.

3. A vehicle front end construction including a radiator, a forwardly positioned bumper in a plane below the top of the radiator, an engine hood having an imperforate front wall portion throughout the region ahead of `the radiator and above the bumper, an air intake conduit projected rearwardly from the bumper and behind said wall and an air tunnel receiving the rear' end oi the conduit and projecting under the hood to the 15 iront face of the radiator.

vmen. M. EXNER. 

